As a new study showed a dramatic increase in health insurance coverage in Massachusetts ”“ as well as unexpected costs ”“ Connecticut is preparing an attempt to reap similar results through a more conservative approach.
With a scheduled July debut, Connecticut”™s Charter Oak Health Plan aims to provide insurance for 29,000 residents lacking coverage in the upcoming fiscal year, and 47,000 by 2011.
Promoted by Gov. M. Jodi Rell and passed by the Connecticut General Assembly last year, the Charter Oak Health Plan would subsidize premiums paid to an insurance carrier, allowing adults to join for a target premium of $250 monthly. The state”™s poorest residents would pay $75 monthly to belong, with participants subject to copayments and other out-of-pocket expenses typically associated with standard health plans.
The program would cost $19 million in premium assistance its first year, and $45 million in 2010.
The state has put the plan out to bid along with its Healthcare for Uninsured Kids and Youth (HUSKY) program, with the combined contract valued at an estimate $3.5 billion over five years. The combination of the program bids prompted a proposed bill in the Connecticut General Assembly to put off implementing the Charter Oak plan until 2009. Rell rationalized the joint bid saying it would create continuity of service for people transitioning between the programs, while creating economies of scale and larger actuarial pools for underwriters.
Currently, the state estimates 333,000 children and adults from low-income families are enrolled in the HUSKY program; at least that many lacked insurance during 2006, according to a survey by the Connecticut Office of Health Care Access.
The state anticipates awarding contracts to three bidders. As of mid-April, three had submitted formal technical bids for the Charter Oak plan:
Ӣ United Health Group Inc. via its subsidiary AmeriChoice of Connecticut Inc.;
Ӣ Community Health Network of Connecticut Inc.; and
Ӣ Aetna Inc. via its Aetna Better Health L.L.C. unit.
At deadline, the Connecticut Department of Social Services had yet to publish results of the bidding process.
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The Connecticut plan comes on the heels of Massachusetts passing a universal health care plan in 2006, which forced residents and employees to obtain coverage or pay penalties at tax time.
A new study last week by the Urban Institute provided the first evidence the law is paying dividends in Massachusetts. The Bay State cut its uninsured adult population in half in the first year following the law”™s implementation, while prompting more visits for preventive medical visits that could lower future health costs. The study found that health clinics were overwhelmed by new business, possibly creating positive benefits for future employment in the health industry there.
Employers, who had been leery of penalties associated with the plan, do not appear to be eliminating health benefits in response, the study noted.
In a separate report, the Massachusetts revenue department reported that 86,000 people elected to pay a $220 penalty rather than pay for insurance coverage. Those penalties are to escalate sharply this year.
Massachusetts already had among the five best health care systems for children in the nation, according to a new study by the Commonwealth Fund, a New York City-based think tank that researches the sector.
While Connecticut ranked third nationally for the quality of its health care services, high costs had Connecticut ranked 14th overall on the scorecard.
Iowa topped the list, followed by Vermont, Maine, Massachusetts and New Hampshire. New York was ranked 25th on the Commonwealth Fund report and New Jersey 42nd. According to the study”™s authors, in the past decade Iowa and Vermont have expanded their programs under the federal State Children”™s Health Insurance Program and have mandated that all children”™s health plans report data on the quality of care.
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